P.A.A.M.I.

 
Here are a few shot and
      two movie clips of our first testing of the new can gripper.
      Since there was simply no room on the front of the robot for
      an arm because of the high density of sensors, and the front
      top cant be blocked either because of the beacon sensor and sonar
      array. We decided to make the arm a U shaped lexan bar, with
      the gripper in the middle. This allows us to stow the gripper
      on the robots back when not in use. A more detailed description
      and more photos of the mechanics will follow in another write
      up, but for now, here is the current setup. PAAMI is programed
      with 14 parallel processors, the highest level of arbitration
      is the new "Grab" processor. It subsumes every other
      level and for this test, it subsumed the other systems while
      it grabbed the can, then no longer subsumes when done, and the
      robot drives off using the lower levels of arbitrated architecture
      to control the robot. The robot will find the can later by a
      new sensor array I'm working on now with Sharp distance detectors.
Images are full size and are not clickable.

 Here the gripper is seen
      in its stowed position, all the way back on the U shaped arm,
      and the gripper wide open.

 
 The gripper is partially
      open in the grab mode, and the arm starts to pivot over the top
      of all the top sensory arrays.

 
 With the arm down to the
      grab position, the gripper is ready to close on the can.

 
 When the gripper closes,
      and lever switch closes on the cans surface and tells the robot
      it really has grabbed the can. IF there is no can, it grabs again
      and if there is STILL no can, the gripper is stowed and the bot
      moves on.

 
 Here we see the can being
      lifted onto the back of the robot.

 
 Now stowed on the back
      of the bot, the robot will now travel to the nearby charger and
      dump the can in a bin on top of the charger. (Eventually anyway!)

 
 Frontal view of robot running
      off with can on its back.


      
 Movie 1  (800k mpg with SOUND)
 This
      first small clip shows the arm grabbing a can, lifting it and
      stowing it. It then drives off.


      
Movie 2  (1meg mpg with SOUND)
 This
      second movie shows what happens if the can is not there. It grabs
      for it twice, looking for a contact switch closure on the gripper.
      Deciding there is no can, it stows the gripper and drives off.

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